Mells Tour 7th August 2010
The Strollers assembled on a cloudy lunchtime at the Mells village cricket green. The warm up was typically enthusiastic with Youngy yet again arranging the catching practice, having been overlooked by the Captain for 1st choice wicket keeper. Ed Duffus duly lost the toss which put us in the field, and The Strollers strike attack limbered up.
The first 10 overs belonged to the batsmen as both openers stubbornly refused to give away their wickets, despite some reasonable accuracy on line and length from Bristoe and some slow to slower pace from Captain Duffus. Duffus then made his second strange decision (having called heads when the answer was obviously tails), and threw the ball to the historically expensive Young. This change in bowling paid instant dividends as he took 3 wickets in 3 consecutive overs before being replaced after failing with his fourth over. The change at the other end also saw a first ball wicket for debutant (his name), who had be loaned to The Strollers at the start of the game. With the tide turning and Duffus sensing the opposition were creaking at 82 - 4, he decided to relax proceedings and bring on McGuirk and Holliday, who toiled away for the next 12 overs, for a lot of runs and zero wickets. Mells were now firmly back in the game and with wickets in hand, the Captain called on The Strollers premier spin bowler Jonny Allen, who ripped through the middle order finishing with 4 wickets in 6 overs, the skippers only mistake were the shouts of "an over too far", from the expensive finish from a tiring Allen.
However, this was a strong bowling and fielding display which limited Mells to 213 off the 40 overs, considerably less than previous years.
So after a traditionally hearty and accomplished tea, it was with some optimism that the Strollers started to knock off the runs required and a steady rate. Finlow and Maurice providing a steady start before McGuirk joined the fray after a straight ball dismissed Finlow. There were glimpses of the form Paddy showed at the TFL match, however a rank full toss didn't quite clear the rope, and he was snaffled at long on. At 43 - 2 and Hollers striding to the crease, The Strollers knew they were still in the match. Maurice played some remarkable shots to stay with Hollers while he blasted his way into the 70's then 80's, but was caught (was he?) on 29.
This brought the Captain to the crease who ably kept the scoreboard ticking along, while Hollers took an age to navigate through the nervous 90's. For 7 overs he battled through to finally reach his par of 103 before being caught in the deep having had the nod from the Captain that this wasn't a test match and we were falling behind the run rate! Youngy who is starting to lose his agility for a big man, strode to the crease with 7 over left and 52 still required, almost 7.5 an over. Having played himself in and edged a couple for 4's, the Strollers required 32 of the last 4 overs, and despite his captains reservations about hitting hard, was determined not to go down without a fight!
The next over started with a 6, a single and then a wicket, with Captain Duffus walking back. When it concluded, Adrian was with Youngy and 23 were required off the last 18 balls. Unfortunately Adrian was unable to last for long, adding 1 to the total before being bowled. This made room for the Strollers premier wicket keeper/batsman, Doug McAndrew and with 12 balls remaining, 18 were still required....the Strollers needing a big over, or facing the prospect of a long drive back up the A303!
The bowling was fast and accurate, which made scoring difficult, and having only managed 5 runs in that over, the supporting Strollers and Wags were a picture of pessimism with the unlikely task of securing victory needing 13 runs off the final over. The wippetesque, swashbuckling McAndrew was on strike and was backed up by the bludgeoning power of Young. 3 runs came of the first 2 balls, leaving Young on strike with 10 required of 4. A hurriedly run 2 was taken with Macca arriving at the strikers end before the ball had pitched. Shouts of Oxygen for Youngy were heard ringing around the Mells green. 8 runs off 3 balls. And then, in a moment of true sporting infamy, with his eyes closed, veins bulging and with all the might he could muster, Youngy blindly swung, connected and watched as the ball went vertical. Slowly, very slowly it seemed, as it started to get further away, closer to the rope until it had made it.6!
Frantic celebrations from the supporters and renewed optimism in the hearts of the WAG's, with 2 balls left, only 2 runs needed. Again, while blindly swinging Youngy failed to connect, but the loud swoooshing noise, disrupted the keeper for long enough for the pair to scramble a single bye, but with no-one at the bowlers end and the ball half way between, they kept running to turn the draw into a famous Strollers win....with 1 ball to spare. Jubilant scenes were heard for miles around as Mells were somewhat shell-shocked having lost from a winnable situation.